The candidates for the House in District 9 don’t just disagree on the specifics of an issue — such as how to address education or how to improve the economy — they even disagree on what the most important issues are.
Republican candidates Rep. Rick Murphy and Debbie Lesko, who hopes to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Bob Stump’s bid for Corporation Commission, both put immigration at the top of the list of concerns among their constituents. Democratic challengers Sheri Van Horsen and Shawn Hutchinson instead rate transportation and education as the issues that are tied as most important in the district.
But despite their party affiliation, all four candidates are facing the need to modify their messages to appeal to an increasingly moderate district. The district is still predominately Republican, but both parties have lost registered voters since the 2002 election. At the same time, the number of voters registered with a third party or as independent has increased by more than 4 percent, or roughly 6,000 voters.
The Democrats
The growth of the West Valley in recent years has created pressing concerns over traffic, pollution and road care, the Democrats said. But the largest concern to the candidates is not the population growth within the district but rather in the surrounding areas.
“The West Valley has really grown, and I don't think they are going to stop until they reach California,” Hutchinson said. “To get into Phoenix and some of the eastern Valley they have to drive through District 9, and we need some solutions that will lessen the congestion.”
Van Horsen and Hutchinson agree the best way to solve the transportation problem is through long-term community planning, but they take different stances on where that planning should focus.
Van Horsen, who lost the 2006 legislative race by fewer than 800 votes, said the Legislature should be focusing on road construction and repair. She said the district has fallen into the cycle of piecemeal road repair — little projects here and there that result in the roads being constantly in poor condition.
To combat this cycle, Van Horsen is proposing a more systemic approach to transportation policy. The goal is to hold a sort of conference where representatives from various cities come together to identify what the cities need, how much the needs would cost and what funding options would be available. Van Horsen said such community planning is a necessary step to ensure construction projects do not become inadequate before or shortly after they are completed.
“We can’t just look at the immediate issue,” she said. “We must start planning a project so that when we do these projects the money is well spent and it takes us farther down the road. That way we don’t have to worry about coming back in a few years to redo the same project.”
Hutchinson instead focused on the role public transportation could play in easing the congestion in the West Valley. Hutchinson’s unsuccessful 2006 Peoria City Council race focused on the expansion of commuter rail and bus service in the district.
“We need to connect our points of interest in the Valley through public transportation and get people out of their cars,” he said. “It is absolutely necessary.”
But Hutchinson does not just want more transit routes. He wants to expand service hours of existing routes to offer citizens who work late at night or early in the morning — such as himself and the members of his construction crew — an alternative to driving.
Improving Arizona’s education system is the next priority for the district, the Democratic candidates said.
Both Van Horsen and Hutchinson said the turning point for improving education in Arizona will be to ensure a larger percentage of school district money is spent in the classroom.
Hutchinson said one of the best and least expensive ways to funnel dollars into the classrooms is through the installation of solar panels on the roofs of all the schools in the state. The utilization of solar energy would decrease the energy costs — costs that continue to increase as education becomes more computerized — allowing school districts to transfer operational money into the classroom.
“If we promote green building in the construction of our schools, I think that would in the long run be a huge savings,” Hutchinson said.  
The Republicans
Republican candidates Lesko and Murphy said the improvement of education in the district was an issue that will have to be addressed by the Legislature. But the methods to achieve improvement are where they disagree with their Democratic counterparts.
For Lesko and Murphy, parental choice will have to be established before improvements will be seen in the state’s public schools. Public schools offer too much of a one-size-fits-all approach to education, Murphy said, and do not take into account that students who fall outside the performance bell curve, such as gifted or special-needs students.
“Parents should have the right to find the school that best suits the needs of their children,” Murphy said.
Lesko expands the list of education solutions beyond school choice to include more focus on math, science and reading, and on raising student expectations. Lesko acknowledges the value of vocational training, but she said the ultimate goal should be to increase the number of students who are prepared for and enter into a post-secondary education program.
But the Republican candidates in District 9 said immigration, not education, is the issue most voters are concerned about.
The two Republicans also agree that securing the border is necessary for the state’s financial health, as well as for national security and criminal prevention. 
Lesko, who has been endorsed by Rep. Russell Pearce and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, has been fighting illegal immigration for years. She has done everything from collecting petition signatures to visiting the Arizona-Mexico border to talk with border patrolmen.
The task of actually securing of the border, Lesko said, ultimately falls on the shoulders of the federal government. The role of the state is to enforce federal regulations and ensure the state receives assistance from Congress.
Identification programs and immigration reform should be placed on hold until the border is properly secured, Lesko said.
And Murphy agrees that on a state level the focus should be on enforcing existing laws.
“People say the system doesn’t work, but the fact of the matter is that up until recently people have never really tried, so we don’t know,” Murphy said. “One would hope that 22 years is enough time to determine if a system works, but for the first 20 no one really tried. So, I think it is premature to say it doesn’t work.”
Murphy said the enforcement of immigration law is important on principle. If the citizens wanted to alter the immigration laws, there is a proper forum for that, Murphy said. But until then, the state is obligated to enforce all laws equally. 
“We don’t allow businesses to get away with tax fraud, we don’t allow business to get away with payroll taxes. We enforce that at the work place,” he said. “One could argue that the businesses are just trying to make a living and it is too burdensome to comply with the laws, just like the arguments used with immigration, and yet nobody is doing that because they know it wouldn’t pass muster.”
Lesko said she would be in favor of a guest-worker program that allows temporary entry to the workers but denies entry for the workers’ families.
“Allowing the worker’s family to enter will result in the same problem we have now,” Lesko said. “Economically, we
are giving away free health care and their kids are going to our schools, and this is all costing us money.”
Budget and taxes
But despite their disagreements, all four candidates acknowledge the importance the economy will hold in the next legislative session. All the candidates also agree that cuts will be necessary to balance the state budget.
But in a classic Republican vs. Democrat fashion, the candidates disagree on the role tax cuts could play in improving the state’s economy. 
Lesko and Murphy both advocate tax cuts, especially corporate tax cuts, as a means for attracting business to the state. Murphy said Arizona will have to restructure its tax system in order to compete with the economic development efforts of other Western states.
“The governor likes to talk about creating good jobs, and yet our tax policy is set up so that it discourages the new companies and the higher-paying companies,” Murphy said.
Democratic candidates Van Horsen and Hutchinson said tax cuts as a solution to economic hardships is a tried and failed approach.
“Widespread tax cuts at this point of our budget, I think is irresponsible,” Hutchinson said. “We are in the worst deficit probably that this state will ever see, and we can't stay on the path that my opponents have kept us on for the last decade. I think we have proven that their policies are not working.”